Walmart has spent years trying to turn its massive store footprint into a delivery advantage.
Now that Amazon is pushing shoppers to expect groceries and household essentials in as little as 30 minutes, Walmart is quietly testing a new way to close the speed gap.
Walmart is working on turning empty drugstores and smaller retail spaces into delivery-only depots, known as Walmart Depots.
The move comes as the delivery race between the country’s biggest retailers intensifies and becomes more expensive.
Amazon recently launched its Amazon Now, its ultra-fast delivery service that promises thousands of everyday items, including fresh groceries, household essentials, personal care, pet products, and more, in 30 minutes or less in select cities.
And in the available areas, Amazon Now will operate 24 hours a day, currently including Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth, Philadelphia, and Seattle, as well as parts of other cities such as Austin, Houston, Minneapolis, Orlando, Phoenix, Denver, and Oklahoma City.
For Walmart, this raises the stakes, as until now, Express Delivery has promised delivery in two hours or less and, in select areas, delivers within 30 minutes to an hour.
The retailer already has one of the strongest grocery businesses in the US, and its thousands of stores put it within reach of many shoppers. But in the new retail race, being nearby may not be enough.
The question is whether Walmart can get everyday essentials to customers’ doors as quickly as its rivals.
Walmart tests new delivery-only depots
In a latest move, Walmart is testing a model called Walmart Depots, which uses smaller, neighborhood-level spaces as last-mile stockrooms for high-demand items such as groceries, household products, and pharmacy goods.
Unlike a regular Walmart store, these depots are not built for shoppers to browse. They are designed for delivery drivers to pick up orders faster and get them to customers in shorter time windows.
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In a public document submitted for a proposed depot in Poughkeepsie, New York, Walmart described the concept as “a new way to deliver faster to more people.”
The Town of Poughkeepsie’s April 22 meeting summary listed a presentation and discussion for a proposed Walmart Depot at the old Rite Aid store in the Red Oaks Plaza.
The materials describe a Walmart Depot as a neighborhood-scale retail facility, typically 20,000 square feet or less, that can reuse former drugstores, furniture stores, or other vacant retail spaces.
“Walmart Depot modernizes local retail service- bringing convenience, access, and economic value to the community while remaining consistent with the spirit and intent of retail and light-industrial zoning,” said the official statement.
These depots will act as a local extension of an existing Walmart store’s inventory, carrying a scaled-down selection of high-demand items closer to customers and being stocked through Walmart’s existing supply chain.
Walmart declined to comment.
Walmart Depots can deliver in 30 minutes
The Poughkeepsie document shows that Walmart is not treating these as regular stores and that they will be managed by existing Walmart stores.
The sites will be used by third-party delivery drivers on the Spark Driver platform, who will shop for and deliver customer orders.
However, one of the biggest selling points that comes across is speed. Walmart listed it as a customer benefit, saying delivery could arrive in as little as 30 minutes.
That makes the depot model a direct answer to Amazon’s recent offering: Amazon Now.
Walmart further added that these depots could offer customers more delivery times during peak demand, serve customers who do not have a Walmart store near them, and provide Walmart’s assortment, everyday low prices, and fast delivery to more customers without adding activity inside the main store.
The Walmart Depot expansion
Walmart Depots were first piloted in the Dallas and Bentonville areas, and the retail giant is now looking at further expansion.
Walmart has several such non-branded depots, including one in Carlstadt, New Jersey, and a proposed depot in San Diego, which would also replace a former Rite Aid pharmacy, Financial Times reported. Potential future locations also include pharmacies in New York and California, as well as a former Goodwill store in Virginia.
The timing of these depots is important as Amazon moves deeper into the same type of urgent shopping. Amazon has already delivered over 1 billion items same-day or overnight so far in 2026, according to TheStreet’s earlier report.
Walmart has been expanding its delivery services, reporting a 60% year-over-year increase in fast delivery in its recent earnings report. And outside the US, Walmart is already moving even faster.
In India, Flipkart, the Walmart-owned e-commerce platform, has been delivering orders in less than 15 minutes across 30 cities.
This new step in the U.S. could help Walmart turn empty drugstores into a new weapon against its delivery battle with Amazon.
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